42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.44 All who believed were together and had all things in common;45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts,47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Prayer

Sermon

How could it possibly be a true account? Signs and wonders, glad and generous hearts, the goodwill of all the people, and they held all things in common. All things in common. The verse just before this one is even more surprising: those who received Peter’s word on Pentecost were baptized and “there were added that day about 3000 souls.” (Acts 2:41)

It’s a story from two thousand years ago, and the preacher whose words converted 3000 people in one day, I might add, had actually walked with Jesus, had actually seen the risen Lord in the upper room, had actually been touched by the fire of the Holy Spirit.

So maybe it’s true and maybe it’s exaggerated but one way or another it’s a 2000 year old account so there is not much there for us, is there?

“In 1811, the Rev Joshua Huntington, the 11th minister of [the Old South Church in Boston] calls a meeting “to examine the state of the poor and destitute, ascertain facts and adjust a plan for their instruction and relief.” It is reported that by their next meeting, a mere ten days later, between them they had visited some 500 homes in which reside the poor and destitute.”[1]

500 homes visited in ten days. Well, those pastors had no emails to answer. So maybe it’s true and maybe it’s exaggerated but one way or another it’s a 200 year old account so there is not much there for us, is there?

Well, out of those 500 visits, came the Society for the Religious and Moral Education of the Poor, founded in 1816, and now known as City Mission Boston.

And in case you didn’t know, from their work came the concept of Vacation Bible School - and the successful advocacy for public education in Boston. From City Mission came Seaman’s Friend, YWCA Boston, Greater Boston Community Development, and the Home for Little Wanderers. No kidding. Here’s how City Mission serves today:

6 - that’s the number of elementary schools whose students receive warm clothing through City Mission’s Coat Boston. 12,000 - that’s the number of coats distributed in the last several years.

95% - that’s the percent of the hundreds single mother graduates of City Mission’s A Lift Up who have been able to stay housed.

5687 - that’s the number of gifts donated and distributed in the 2016 City Mission Boston Christmas Shop.

10 - that’s the number of Eliot folks who worked the 2016 Christmas Shop.

9 - that’s the number of Eliot members who went to the 200th anniversary Gala.

7- that’s the number of Eliot folks who went on a City Mission Boston Immersion mission trip last year.

3- that’s the number of Eliot Members who have served on the Board of City Mission (in the last 25 years - we don’t know about before that).

100 - that’s how many years Eliot Church has been committed to City Mission Boston.

200 - that’s the number of Acts of Service (approximately) that the folks here at Eliot Church have done as part of City Mission’s 200th anniversary - including 12 more acts of service this very morning at Cradles to Crayons, by our children.

Nothing shy of miraculous, if you ask me - day by day more people coming together for fellowship and learning and good works. Nothing shy of miraculous, the way this church history reads.

Go back with me again 2000 years. The good folks in Jerusalem who heard and were converted by Peter’s word formed the first Christian community. They were different from followers of Jesus - they were a community centered on the risen Christ, filled with people who had never met Jesus. The author of Acts makes it sound in these verses like a utopia. It sounds particularly this way when you ignore anything after chapter 2 - you know, chapter 3 where Peter gets arrested and chapter 5 where Ananias embezzles and chapter 15 where Peter and Paul argue over the Gentiles. If you just look at chapter 2... But as Tom Long puts it, “We had been reading this Pentecost narrative as if it were written by some modern university-styled historian....but what if this passage is another genre, namely a local church history?...local church history tends to be a description of a church’s past in terms of its best hopes for the future...as it was, yes, but also as the church hopes and trusts it will one day be.”[2]

Now, some of the folks in these pews know City Mission even better than I do - and I know it pretty well, having served twice on the board. Some of you who know more than I will have to tell your own stories of City Mission.

If the numbers I just told you serve the same place in City Mission history as Acts 2 serves in church history, well, I’ve also read City Mission’s chapter 3, 5, and 12. When, in the middle of the 20th Century evangelism was set aside for justice work. When, as June Cooper puts it, the Society woke up in the midst of the bussing crisis and stopped ministering to the poor and started partnering with diverse communities and directly addressing racism and poverty in the City. When, in the 2000s the money almost ran out and painful cuts had to made. When some of its strongest programs and staff spun off into their own organizations leaving identity and purpose questions for City Mission. When, in 2014, the Long Island Shelter Crisis demanded the City Mission and other groups completely shift their work to form Boston Warm. When, this year, the building that has been home to City Mission got sold.

I’ve read all the chapters of City Mission history. And still I celebrate, as Nancy Taylor said Thursday night, We’re still here, we’re still at it, on behalf of God! What I know about City Mission is what one writer says about the early church of Acts 2: “God is able to take a fractured humanity and forge a community consisting of difference (backgrounds, generations, social locations). God has the power to make us one in Christ. Such a vision should not be daunting and it should not be dismissed as impossible for nothing is impossible with the Spirit of God.”[3]

God is able.

And people respond.

Head back to Acts with me.

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship (to the koinonia, the sacred community), to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

The people were devoted - committed - to each other and to the ministry of the early church. There is a great cloud of committed and dedicated witnesses watching over City Mission - from 1811’s Joshua Hutchinson to 2006’s Jahmol Norfleet to 1997’s Valerie Russell.

43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.44 All who believed were together and had all things in common;45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.

At the Russell School, when you’re done with a City Mission Coat Boston coat, you bring it back to give to the next child.

46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts,47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

From youth to single moms, children without access to education to homeless folks with no warm place to be: day by day. Day by day.

We’re still here, we’re still at it, on behalf of God!

I wonder, if we sat down to write an Acts story of the Eliot Church, a story of these 172 years so far, how would we write the tale?

We would begin, of course, with the 37 people engraved on our founders list in the entry. We would tell of John Eliot and we would tell the tale of this neighborhood in 1845, and we would tell of fellowship and prayers, of mutual devotion and commitment, of pooling resources that there might be a church here. We would tell the tale of the great fire of 1955. And of the access ramp that Fred Rosene built, and of the care the Gleasons gave. We would tell of supporting Vietnamese refugees in the 70s and supporting our own Josephine McNeil in building affordable family housing. (What else would we tell?) We would, perhaps only footnote moments of contention.

Local church history tends to be a description of a church’s past in terms of its best hopes for the future: I think the history we would write would be one of service and devotion, of prayers and breaking bread, of sharing and justice. And like the early church, and like City Mission, our history would proclaim: We’re still here! We’re still at it! On behalf of God! Amen.

[1]From a sermon by Rev. Nancy Taylor of Old South Church in Boston, November 15, 2016.

2 “A Night at the Burlesque: Wanderings through the Pentecost Narrative” by Thomas G. Long

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Eliot Church of Newton, UCC

The Eliot Church of Newton is an Open and Affirming congregation in the United Church of Christ (UCC). We affirm that all people are children of God. We honor and welcome everyone, and we are committed to being a uniting church that embraces the rich diversity of God's creation.